Comics are awesome.

[Onslaught Six]

The motive for the killing also matters. Killing for convenience, or recreation, is much different than killing for the purpose of protecting others. It should not be done casually of course. But, if Batman (for example) is going to make himself responsible, (especially in an extra-legal sense), for the people of Gotham, then kililng the Joker is arguably justified as it protects residents of Gotham from (at least some) further harm.

Batman is also an idealist--he believes that Joker should be tried for his crimes and put to "real" justice that everyone should have to answer to. He hopes that, some day, Joker can be rehabilitated. (This arguably even happens in The Dark Knight Returns--before the reemergence of Batman makes him snap and break out again.)

[Dominic]

He didn't just fall. Batman used one of his grapples to tether the Joker to one of the gargoyles on the top of the cathedral as the Joker was trying to climb a rope ladder to a waiting helicopter. The gargoyle broke loose, ultimately dragging the Joker off the ladder and causing the Joker to fall to his death. Batman was directly responsible for the Joker's death, whether he meant to kill him or not.

Honestly, I cannot blame Batman. Think about it. He tied Joker to a big hunk of stone, likely expecting that Joker would fall from the copter and be held in place by the heavy stone thing. I would have thought Joker's hands would have given out before the gargoyle would have moved. (Whoopsie doodle.)

I'm not saying manga & anime are *better* than American medium because of this, or anything, and they have their own flaws, but this seemed like a nice place to jump in.

One thing to keep in mind is that some anime is written to be finite. It may take forever to resolve, but it is not written to go on for decades.

[BWprowl]

One thing to keep in mind is that some anime is written to be finite. It may take forever to resolve, but it is not written to go on for decades.

Well, stuff like Doraemon, Detective Conan, and Golgo 13 would seek to prove you wrong, though they're the minority. There's also One Piece, which has been going for over a decade now and shows no sign of slowing down.

[Dominic]

Picking this up from the AHM thread:

So, what are we seeing in local comic stores? Local stores seem to be ordering to sell-through. (I know at least one is definitely doing this.) One store that used to order comprehensively from Diamond, (including toys), is skipping waves of figures.

Obviously, this is likely a function of the economy. Is anyone else seeing this?

Dom
-is seeing more bad signs of late.

[andersonh1]

I know when I went in to Borderland Comics to pick up AHM #16 on Wednesday that there were only three copies on the shelf. Two of the Spike cover, and one Bumblebee cover, which I bought. I'm assuming they ordered equal amounts of both, though I can't be sure of course. The back issue bins don't have many TF books either. It does seem likely that they're ordering just enough to try and be sure they sell all copies.

[Shockwave]

Picked up AHM 16 today. Bumblebee flavour. The proprietor of the establishment had stashed the Ravage cover for me, but I swapped it for the Bumblebee one. They're pretty well stocked on everything, there were at least 5 copies of each cover and it looked like the same applied to the other TF titles as well. Having looked through the back issue TFs at that store recently, I know they don't have many either which means TF is selling very well in my area.

[BWprowl]

Picking this up from the AHM thread:

So, what are we seeing in local comic stores? Local stores seem to be ordering to sell-through. (I know at least one is definitely doing this.) One store that used to order comprehensively from Diamond, (including toys), is skipping waves of figures.

Obviously, this is likely a function of the economy. Is anyone else seeing this?

Dom
-is seeing more bad signs of late.

Man, you wanna talk about bad signs? We had a storm here in Fresno this week, and my local shop discovered in this unfortunate way that their roof was not up to snuff. A good chunk of their inventory, including most of the stuff they got in on New Comics Day last week, was completely ruined. I'm hoping they can bounce back from whatever financial damage this did to them, but it must've really hurt. It's too bad, because I really like the place.

Anyway, this shop does not appear to order TF comics to sell through, or if they are, they've been grossly over-estimating the demand for some time now. They almost always have extra issues left over, though that's the case for almost all the comics they get in. At the least, they order enough TF stuff to get the Retailer Incentive covers since....they always have the Retailer Incentive covers. It might also be worth noting that this shop pretty much has a monopoly on the comics market in Fresno though. I dunno, do many towns/cities these days even have more than one comic shop?

[andersonh1]

There are two in Greenville SC where I buy comics, or only two that I know of, and both are in the low-rent section of town within a mile of each other. There used to be Heroes aren't hard to Find across the street, but it's long gone.

[Shockwave]

Wow. Apparently I live in the comics capital of the universe and didn't even know it. There are at least 3 A1's (kind of the Wal Mart of comics) in north sacramento, Empire Comics (where I get mine), Cards and Comics (where I used to get mine) and a comic shop not more than 5 minutes from where I live that I found completely by accident. And there's another one near a bowling alley. That's like 7 comic shops.

[138 Scourge]

Lessee, here in the KC area we got Elite Comics (where I go) Clint's Comics (in KC MO) B-Bop (right across from Clint's) Friendly Frank's Comic Cavern (by the airport), 1,000,000 Comics (I can never find this place, but it's there), Pop Culture Comics, The Battlezone (mainly role-playing games, but some comics, Vintage Stock (three of 'em, two of which I get comics, toys, and music at), and that might be about it. Unless one wanted to head to Lawrence, a nearby college town, which has at least two more.

So that's why I'm so into comics, I guess. I can get 'em everywhere!

Not all of these are in one city, but y'know, close.